VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mike Harrison · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:47 am Post subject: OT: Vent: Death by leaf blower

It's one thing when landscapers temporarily interrupt a session. But it's something else entirely when the 240 Hz drone of a semi-distant leaf blower is heard – no exaggeration – constantly, as in no variation, for over 30 minutes.

We have given up not only peace and quiet but peace of mind for shallow aesthetics. Welcome to the 21st century.
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Mike
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chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

Agreed. The only place that leaves bother me is in my gutters, because clogged gutter equals watery death for office in basement. I dig them out by hand, then throw them in the yard, where they can rot quietly until I eventually mow over them.

My neighbors probably don't like that about me. We live in a neighborhood of... well, positively ancient retired folks who have nothing to do but blow leaves and run weedwhackers, may their little engines all spontaneously and simultaneously seize up...
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Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 11:24 am Post subject:

I abhor noise pollution and not just because of doing voiceovers. I simply do NOT fathom why some people in our society apparently are attracted to loud things. As a motorcyclist, I love the fact that my bike is so quiet you almost can't hear it. As is my car.

I truly - and I do mean TRULY - feel that people who feel they MUST draw attention to themselves via painful and obnoxiously loud vehicles, must have a pretty huge insecurity issue.

Some noise is unavoidable, such as the jet that passes overhead, the lawn guys doing their work (as you mentioned), the air brakes on a decelerating semi-truck (talk about obnoxious!), but that's all the MORE reason for us to seek out reduced or lack of noise in areas of our lives where we can control it.

I now live on the western slope of Colorado, 8 miles south of a small town, in the middle of hundreds of square miles of farmland. The utter solitude and quiet that prevails here is salve for my soul. Standing at night in the yard, staring at the vastness of the skies and hearing only crickets and frogs is amazing.

Noise sucks. And truly can sap the joy out of you.
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vkuehn · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 11:38 am Post subject:

Mike Harrison · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:01 pm Post subject:

Rick Riley · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:34 am Post subject:

You do realize that this is the pot calling the kettle black. Many, maybe even the majority, would call a lot of what WE do, NOISE. If they don’t have a DVR to skim through the commercials, they’ll hit mute to quiet the bla, bla, bla of the spot. But on many occasions, I’m doing the bla, bla, bla’ing. And If I wasn’t doing the bla, bla, bla’ing, I couldn’t pay my bills. And a lot of my bla, bla'ing is on those highly compressed radio stations too Mike!

So bottom line, what you’re saying is, ‘I want to have PEACE AND QUIET! I want YOUR noise that YOU get paid for, to stop, so I can make MY noise, the GOOD noise, and get paid for it.' Correct?
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:56 am Post subject:

Rick Riley · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:00 am Post subject:

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 10:27 am Post subject:

Mike Harrison · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:19 am Post subject:

I choose not to listen to most radio stations, first, because I don't care for the music; second because of the highly compressed audio; and third because of the hype and bullshit. I have no issue with commercials on whatever station they run unless they insult my intelligence or happen to be most any prescription drug spot which, like the cigarette spots of decades ago, are helping turn the easily-manipulated (I was one) into zombies.

My complaint about the 30-minute leaf-blowing marathon – in this case – was not that it was preventing me from working at the mic. It wasn't. I was, however, trying to concentrate on what I was reading and trying to compose. And the incessant drone of the leaf blower (wherever it was) equated to nothing less than acoustic waterboarding.

A guy with a leaf blower several years ago spent easily five minutes right outside the door to my building focused on a handful of leaves that were stuck under a small bush. An intelligent person would have realized the futility and either removed the leaves by hand or given up, but this guy continued until the vestibule filled with his leaf blower's exhaust which, in turn, set off the smoke detector.

So, whether it's dynamic compression, landscaping, or any number of other things, many today don't seem to do well with the concept of moderation. It's "full-tilt" or it's nothing. And rarely is it nothing.

Sick

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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:41 am Post subject:

Lee Gordon · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 1:08 pm Post subject:

The guy in charge of maintenance where I live NEVER uses his leaf blower, and fires up the lawnmower as seldom as possible. Oh, by the way, that guy is me. cool

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Rick Riley · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 3:43 pm Post subject:

Not to diminish your dilemma, but you don’t know acoustic waterboarding. In my pre VO days, when I was on the air in Miami, we would get hurricanes. You know, those named things, like ‘ANDREW’. I remember one year we had four, and whenever we did, the power would go out from one or two days to nine or ten. During that time the day’s temps ranged in the 90’s during the day, to the 90’s during the night. So you’d have to leave your windows open 24-7 or else you would die.

The prepared had generators. I was not of the prepared, as were most of my neighbors, but there were those few that were. Ever heard a generator? Ever heard a generator next to your house or across the street droning 24 hours a day for days on end and you couldn’t even shut your window to quell the noise? THAT my friend is ‘Acoustic Waterboarding’. What you’re dealing with, a leaf blower for 30 minutes, is a gnat as opposed to a swarm of never ending hornets. I remember one time in the evening when the neighbor’s generator ran out of gas. It was quiet for about 30 seconds, before the rest of the neighbors actually erupted into simultaneous cheers! Me included!!

So, as they say, cheer up. It could always be worse. Or you could move to South Florida, where it couldn’t.
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DougVox · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 4:56 pm Post subject:

What Rick said.

All of it.
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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 6:44 pm Post subject:

coming to the defense of generators ...

we have wind here in tornado alley too - oh, and then theres the ice. i'm a prepared person --- 8,500 watt generator back-wired into the main panel. it's not automatic - but it's just a flip of a couple of switches. in 2008 we had neighbors coming over for a hot shower. i'm prepared and nice.
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